We had switched over to buying cars on cash for some year now, having realized how expensive the interest payments and depreciation was on a newer car purchased on loan. We had purchased a 20 year old Lexus ES300 from a friend for US$2,000 and sold for just a bit more, and was now on a Honda Civic that was 10 years old.
I had been watching the market and was particularly eager on purchasing a Toyota Sienna for about US$5,000 and watched many come and go that was barely on the edge of my budget--very tempting but risky since I would not be able to afford any immediate repairs or necessary preventative maintenance after purchase.
Finally, I noticed an obscure advertisement on the Autotrader and skipped it several times since it did not have interior pictures. Nevertheless, the attractive price and recent price drop indicated that the dealer was eager to do business. So I contacted him and asked for pictures of the van. He obliged within hours and I got the VIN number to run a Carfax to discover that the van came from Canada--the indicated mileage was actually kilometers!
This discovery sweetened the deal significantly because what was advertised as 130,000 miles was actually 130,000 kilometers as per Carfax (about 80,000 miles). Be that the value of the van drops about $500 for every 10,000 miles, I was already ahead another US$2,500, and because of the lack of posted pictures, and a very eager dealer, I was likely to bargain the already reduced price.
That afternoon, I arranged for the money from the bank and told Monica about it. She was comfortable with the numbers, but asked me if this was the van I wanted. The question perplexed me since it was the kind of van I wanted, and how often do you spot a legitimate deal as this? She pressed me again, and I admitted that I actually wanted a Sienna with leather and captain chairs in the middle. This van was cloth interior with bench 2nd row.
I had a hard time letting this go, since I was sure I was not going to see a better deal. The dealer followed up with me twice, and I declined. 2 months pass, and then a white Toyota Sienna XLE year model 2000 with leather captain chairs in the 2nd row appeared on the Autotrader at the right price and right mileage. But again, there was no interior pictures. However, I made an appointment to view it and it was certainly our van.
We enjoyed it for almost 5 years before selling it to our friends just as vehicle prices jumped due to Obama's Cash for Cars program. At that point, we traded in a 1989 Chevy G20 that was worth about US$500 on the open market for US$3,000 government rebate, and another US$2,000 dealer incentives on a very attractively priced Black Chevy HHR.
~ Shien Yahweh Jireh "The Lord Provides"
